Out of the Haze
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day sixty-seven: Quinn's "morning after" isn't so much a morning, but it has the same end result.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a second cycle, and then a third cycle Now here comes cycle 4! :D_

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**"Out of the Haze"  
Quinn**

Later, she'd vaguely remember how, still tipsy, she'd heard the door from downstairs, telling that one of her parents was home, and so she'd ushered/shoved Puck out toward the window to sneak out. He managed to get dressed in the process, but not to get a word in. Once he was gone, she'd checked and found it was her mother who'd come home. Knowing she was going to be working on dinner for a while – and therefore wouldn't be coming her way anytime soon – she'd crashed in her bed and fallen hard asleep.

When she'd woken up, she wasn't tipsy anymore… but her head was pounding. She didn't know what time it was, what she was waking up from… She didn't move for a while, eyes only committing to blinking lazily. She'd only been made to move when there'd been a knock at the door.

"Sweetheart, dinner's almost ready, are you coming down?"

Quinn sat up a little to answer, and felt her head pound for her troubles. Once it had run its course, she blinked, bracing to sound normal. "Yeah, I'll be right there…"

"Alright, don't take too long."

Looking down at herself, it all came rushing back to her what had happened earlier that afternoon. She hurried at gathering the sheets around herself.

"I won't…"

It would be almost fifteen minutes before she went down to dinner. The first couple of those was spent just sitting there on her bed, realizing what had happened.

She had her beliefs in life. It was never something she felt she had to excuse, it was part of how she'd been raised and more than that it was a part of her… among whichever people may have been disappointed by what she'd just done… there she was.

She'd lost her head. It was one brief moment where her defences had been brought down by a bruised ego and an amount of alcohol, and… now came consequences. There was impulse to cry, and she barely just managed to keep from simply breaking down.

She finally got up, back on her feet, remembering she needed to get ready for dinner. Changing into her regular clothes, she couldn't ignore her discarded Cheerio uniform. Once she'd finished fixing up her dress, she had to pick up the uniform, smoothing it out before hanging it up in her closet. She put on her shoes before grabbing her hairbrush, moving to her mirror.

Her hair was a mess. She hurried to take her brush to it. She didn't want to leave any trace of this for her parents to see. She wouldn't chance her assumption that this could ever blow over without any damage. She knew her father, loved him dearly. The relationship they had was supremely important to her. She wasn't scared to proclaim herself as a dedicated and genuine daddy's girl. She wouldn't shout it from the rooftops, but she knew it in her heart and that was where it really mattered.

So she brushed, and brushed, making each unruly hair come back in place deep down she knew the truth. She knew that no matter how much of a daddy's girl she was, she'd be a girl without a daddy if he found out. They'd live together, eat together, do everything that was expected of a family, but where most would believe they saw a unit, she knew she would not be accounted for in the same group as her father. She'd be tainted. She didn't want to lie to him, but if it meant keeping him…

Finn…

Her brush stopped in place for a moment. She didn't want to lose him either. Sure, he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, but she did honestly care for him. If he ever found out she'd cheated on him, after maintaining that they should be the picture of celibacy, chastity… He could call her a hypocrite and she'd have no way to deny it.

If it wasn't bad enough, it had to be Puck… Insult and injury were just tumbling down together, and she just wanted to keep that from him.

What if… no, it wasn't going to come to… Oh, she'd definitely be dead then…

It was one mistake. She wasn't going to make it again. It was a momentary weakness, and she wasn't going to make it again. She didn't remember what had made her think Puck was worth throwing away... everything…

After a good five minutes, she'd been able to put the brush down, checking her reflection once again. It still didn't feel like she was ready to go… Her head was still pounding… she would have given anything not to have to go downstairs to sit for dinner with her parents. She could just imagine the worst of scenarios where they'd look at her and see…

No, she wasn't letting one mistake change her life. It was done, in the past, and now she was going to walk down into the dining room, have dinner with her parents, and just carry on, leaving the whole event behind.

THE END


End file.
